About the middle of May, my 240Z was the meat in a station wagon sandwich.

I was parked outside of the university (where I was studying for a final). A drunk driver plowed into the Volvo station wagon behind me, pushed him up into my car, and my car into the Subaru station wagon in front of me, and so on for about 3 more cars.

Fortunately, and for the first time in my personal driving history, the guy had insurance coverage. After dealing with an adjuster to get an estimate, State Farm's higher up decided that the car was worth (in previous unmolested state), $15k. So, I went out and got my own estimate, and settled with SF for $10k (and no salvage title).

As is typical, the early bumpers served as little more than decoration.

On stubborn cotter pins I have used either a piece of wire or string through the loop to pull it out, like a tooth, with the knuckles being srcaped, every time. IIRC on mine I used one jaw of needle nose plyers and levered it out. Getting it back in was another story, but got it done, somehow.

Bonzi Lon

Got the speedometer cable out

The location of all my corrosion worries:

Other fender and headlight bucket removed:

Battery tray removed (drilled out the spot welds):

The result of pre-submersion paint technologies (spots where the paint sprayer couldn't get):

I haven't decided on replacing the battery tray yet. I've used absorbed glass mat batteries (Optima brand, sealed, no offgassing) for years now, and I may relocate it inside the cabin, probably in one of my weed compartments. If I do relocate, I'll just repair the metal where I drilled the welds out and paint over it, and keep the battery tray for someday when I want to put it back to stock.

If that's the worst you've found, I think it's safe to say that you have one of the cleaner cars around. I'm not even sure that qualifies for "corrosion". It looks more like surface rust to me.

If that's the worst you've found, I think it's safe to say that you have one of the cleaner cars around. I'm not even sure that qualifies for "corrosion". It looks more like surface rust to me.

I agree. I don't think it was worth the hassle to take that out and then have to weld it back in for that amount of surface rust. I don't see the need to relocate the battery for a basically stock car either, but that is just me.

-Mike

I agree. I don't think it was worth the hassle to take that out and then have to weld it back in for that amount of surface rust. I don't see the need to relocate the battery for a basically stock car either, but that is just me.

-Mike

Shame on you! :disappoin

While I agree that there's no need to relocate the battery, I totally disagree with the "worth the hassle" part. Just seeing the before pics of the battery tray, one would have to know/suspect that there was rust between the tray and mounting surfaces and that while cleaning around it might make it look pretty, it would only be a matter of time before it gets real ugly there.

Must KILL rust, must KILL rust, must KILL rust!

Edited January 3, 201015 yr by moonpup

If that's the worst you've found, I think it's safe to say that you have one of the cleaner cars around. I'm not even sure that qualifies for "corrosion". It looks more like surface rust to me.

I used to have some bubbling on the dog legs and the hatch sill, but that all got taken care of before I got it back from the body shop.

So yeah, last big spot. I'm gonna take care of it because it's there, and it'd bother me if I just painted it over.

It's getting warmer once again, and that means it's nearing time for paint (the hardener works between 60-70°). I ordered the paint - a quart of acrylic enamel, the appropriate hardener and reducer, and a quart of primer/surfacer w/hardener.

Last weekend's progress:

The engine bay is sanded, just need to get the car down to the spray booth and sand the bottom of the hood.

Also, I took the head back off the motor to get a machine shop to pull a broken stud.

Finished welding up the holes:

Finished prepping the hood:

Also, rewrapped my wiring harness, and reassembled the turn signals.

Laid down a couple coats of primer

Laid 3 coats of color

Looks great! Keep the pics coming.

So yesterday, we found that we really should have sanded the primer down before the color coat (my initial position, but I was persuaded out of it), so we ended up having to lay a few more coats of color after wetsanding with 600. It looked like a dalmatian, there were so many spots the primer had built up unevenly.

The worst I have to contend with now is a mild case of orange peel, which will knock down easily when I wetsand next weekend.

I also finished re-gasketing and weather-stripping the quarter windows, started cleaning up the transmission, and cleaning/repainting the driveshaft and brake booster.

New weatherstrip profile:

Old weatherstrip profile:

Installed:

I actually did both quarter windows (since I took them out to get the car painted). I've got a bunch more weatherstrips to install.

Thank you for sharing this. Awesome job!

Reinstalling the wiring harness

Helper, and my new battery cable

Hydraulic and fuel lines reinstalled, and my battery line

Battery tray and lines installed in the back